Lopi pellet stove won't restart via thermostat - heaps of unburned pellets

[druderman]

My Lopi (Heritage Bay) pellet stove won't restart via thermostat.
The stove is from 1998 and I have the service manual.
I actually have two of these stoves. The problem one is the freestanding one.
I do clean it regularly, and I replaced the igniter last year.

This year, I return to find that the stove has stalled - and the room is icy cold as a result.
And the red fault light is on and the fire pit is heaping with unburned pellets.
If I dump those pellets and restart, then the stove starts up fine.
Unfortunately, this problem is intermittent and becoming a bit more frequent lately.

I think that once the thermostat shuts the stove down when the room reaches temperature,
then something happens where there are perhaps too many pellets or not enough heat from the igniter or perhaps not enough air for the pellets to burn.
Then for whatever reason, it tries again and again until there is a fault.

I plan on going through the service manual step by step, but I would appreciate any short cuts.

Thanks,

-dave

 

[smwilliamson]

I have a short cut for ya...manual mode.

 

[druderman]

Man, I love you people.
That will definitely save my marriage when the in-laws visit and sleep in that room.
I guess I'll turn it down low, so they don't cook.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

You should do a full stem to stern cleaning. This includes that area around the igniter, which I would pull and test. Then do the dollar bill test on the door gasket and if there are any ash pan or ash pan door gaskets. Replace any bad gaskets.

 

[imacman]

You should do a full stem to stern cleaning. This includes that area around the igniter, which I would pull and test. Then do the dollar bill test on the door gasket and if there are any ash pan or ash pan door gaskets. Replace any bad gaskets.

x2

 

[checkthisout]

You running it on low when that happens?

 

[druderman]

You running it on low when that happens?

It has been set higher than medium - usually at about 2:00.
I had been wondering if these pellets require a lower setting - perhaps they come out faster or burn slower.

The stove is in a less used room over the garage and with thermostat set to 61 F.
It's been below 32 F at night here outside.

Yesterday I posted this message here, filled it with pellets, set feed to medium (12:00), fan to near high, and restarted it.
Now, the stove has been running well for 1 day.
I'm still dubious.

 

[smwilliamson]

If your burn pot isn't fully clear and the thermostat goes through a few cycles or if you have pellets that aren't burning so hot you may just have a dirty pot.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

I believe I know what your problem is.

Having an Ignitor come on automatically to start a pellet stove is not the only part of the auto start up cycle.

I have a newer Travis Ind Avalon Astoria with a digital board. Travis also makes Lopi and the same digital control board is used in both newer stoves with some initial defaults set for the different size stove.

So in order to start the stove with the ignitor the digital control board sets up the heat setting to Medium and the fan setting to High during the start cycle only. Then after ignition the stove will go to what ever the buttons were previously set to unless the power cord was unplugged which clears any previous button setting.

So in your case setting the dial to 12:00 O'Clock (Medium Burn) and fan to High may be the ONLY correct way to prevent startup problems when the stove is on a T-Stat.

Now there is a possibility you can upgrade to the digital control board but you should consult a Travis Sr. Support Rep for that information.

From my Travis Manual
The
stove automatically goes to a medium burn rate
and high fan while the igniter starts the fire
burning within 10 minutes. During this period
the lowest “HEAT OUTPUT†light will flash. If
the stove does not start in 30 minutes, the
stove turns off.
Once up to temperature, the stove will then
run at the heat output setting selected on the
control panel (see “To Adjust the Heat†below).

 

[druderman]

I believe I know what your problem is.

Actually, for 4 years I didn't have this problem, so something has changed.
Either it's the pellets or the stove needs to be cleaned or the stove is now sensitive.

So it stalled last night.
The only change was that my daughter turned the thermostat up to 70 in the evening, then when she went to bed, so I turned it back down to 60.
This is in-fact is the pattern I've noticed, that if I turn the Thermostat down for the night, it may fault on future heat cycle.

Here's a guess...
Maybe when it's forced into the cool-down cycle by adjusting the thermostat, it's kicking out too many pellets - which are too many to burn when it next has to start up.
Although, this morning when I found it stalled, there weren't any singed clunkers at the bottom of the pit this morning. I assume that there shoulda been some smothered burnt ones at the bottom, but all were clean.

-dave

 

[imacman]

Here's a guess...
Maybe when it's forced into the cool-down cycle by adjusting the thermostat, it's kicking out too many pellets - which are too many to burn when it next has to start up.
Although, this morning when I found it stalled, there weren't any singed clunkers at the bottom of the pit this morning. I assume that there shoulda been some smothered burnt ones at the bottom, but all were clean.....

I could be wrong, but as far as I remember about my Astoria, when the stat stopped calling for heat, the feed auger stopped feeding pellets completely......so all the pellets in the pot would burn up before the stove shut off. The burn pot was empty when the stove finally shut down completely.

 

[Don2222]

Here's a guess...
Maybe when it's forced into the cool-down cycle by adjusting the thermostat, it's kicking out too many pellets - which are too many to burn when it next has to start up.
Although, this morning when I found it stalled, there weren't any singed clunkers at the bottom of the pit this morning. I assume that there shoulda been some smothered burnt ones at the bottom, but all were clean.....

I could be wrong, but as far as I remember about my Astoria, when the stat stopped calling for heat, the feed auger stopped feeding pellets completely......so all the pellets in the pot would burn up before the stove shut off. The burn pot was empty when the stove finally shut down completely.

Yes u r correct. However if there is no "swing" setting on the T-stat then it might come back on before the pellets have burned up! That is called short cycling.

 

[druderman]

OK, I'm keeping a eye on it today.
It faulted a little earlier, but has also been cycling OK today, since I restarted it.

A little while ago it hit the room temp and shut itself down properly.
I checked and there are about a dozen new pellets sitting in the firepit.
Really, there should be none, since they woulda burned up.
I hope that extra info helps.

 

[Don2222]

OK, I'm keeping a eye on it today.
It faulted a little earlier, but has also been cycling OK today, since I restarted it.

A little while ago it hit the room temp and shut itself down properly.
I checked and there are about a dozen new pellets sitting in the firepit.
Really, there should be none, since they would a burned up.
I hope that extra info helps.

What was the heat setting when this happened??

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Drafts at the t-stat could be causing this as well:

t-stat says heat, stove drops pellets and starts igniter cycle, t-stat says no heat, stove stops feeding pellets, igniter is turned off, repeat ....

also a mechanical t-stat can do this with vibration as well a in a drafty location if it is near its turn on point.

 

[druderman]

Drafts at the t-stat could be causing this as well.

Nope, the thermostat is a nice digital one and emits a loud click when it cycles and has worked fine for years. And it all runs fine for a long time occasionally. So it is not what you describe.

 

[druderman]

Yesterday, I did a very thorough cleaning as per the service manual.
It has been running and cycling nicely. So perhaps it had to do with airflow.
I have my fingers crossed to see if I can go a few more days without any trouble.

-dave

 

[druderman]

No dice.

I'm wondering if it's the pellets - I hope not since I have 2 tons of these. Ug.
I may have to try another brand.